Note: The reverse legend translates to Concordia Augusti. This specimen is in the Roman style versus the local Cappadocian style. Both occur in
this issue. Many thanks to Curtis Clay for his assistance in attributing this coin.

Authenticated and graded by David Sear as an attractive VF, rare and interesting (December 6, 2005)

Sear notes from CoA: "This remarkable silver tridrachm type belonging to the opening phase of Trajan's reign has been the subject of
considerable scholarly debate. Traditionally, it was assigned to Caesarea in Cappadocia (BMC and Sydenham) but in 1977 D. R. Walker
reattributed it to an unidentified mint in Provincia Asia on the basis of its absence from any of the finds of Caesarean coinage. This
reassignment was accepted by Metcalf in his 1996 publication on the silver coinage of Cappadocia from which the type was excluded. However,
the reverse design has a distinctly oriental flavor and a further reattribution may be necessary at some future date."

Update from Richard McAlee on April 2, 2008: This type
has now been reattributed to Syria-Phoenicia as far as area of
circulation, but it was actually minted in Rome for use in
Syria-Phoenicia. See the chapter on Trajan's coins in my new book,
"The Coins of Roman Antioch". Your example is from the
same obverse die as the coin in my collection (the first of several
illustrated in my book).